The academic world is dominated by Democrats, according to a recently published study.
The study was conducted by Daniel Klein, associate professor of economics at Santa Clara University and Charlotta Stern of the Institute for Social Research at Stolkholm University. The study, distributed to more than 1,000 university professors around the country, posed 57 questions about 18 policy issues, voting behavior and background variables.
The survey found that Democrats outnumber Republicans in all academic fields. The field of anthropology had the highest ratio, with one Republican professor to every 30.2 Democrats. Sociology came in second with a ratio of 28 to one. Overall, the survey's lowest estimation of liberals to conservatives in humanities departments is one Republican to every seven Democrats.
Economics and the social sciences are the most politically balanced departments, the survey found. Democrats outnumber Republicans by a ratio of just three to one in economics. The second-to-lowest ratio was 6.7 to one in the social sciences.
University Politics Prof. Steven Rhoads said the prevalence of Democrats in academia can make conservative faculty feel as if they must conceal their political views.
"I definitely think there are people whose politics don't emerge until after they get tenure," he said. "This is most common with people who are right of center."
Amber VerValin, vice-chair for campaigns for the University's College Republicans, said the survey's findings about the concentration of liberal professors in various departments apply to the University.
"A lot of times in the College of Arts and Sciences, it does feel like the professors, especially in the anthropology department, promote that 'evil Republican' message," VerValin said. "People in College Republicans that are in economics agree that the economics department is more conservative. The professors here discuss the harmful effects of taxes on the economy."
Rhoads said the social science departments are relatively balanced at the University.
"Our students are lucky because our department is more balanced than most," Rhoads said.
Rhoads added that the lack of ideological diversity at the University is a problem.
"There needs to be more diversity of ideas," Rhoads said. "It is a little prejudiced because, if you like the economic political system, you can run for office. If you have a problem with the system, you can go to a university to complain. In humanities, many people are pretending to talk about literature, and they are actually talking about politics."
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